Machines

Seen XH558 4 times now and the 5th coming up at Fairford next month. It's awesome, but not as much as being stood 200 yards behind Concorde taking off with full afterburner, no fence in the way and feeling the hot air blast you whilst your whole body is vibrating.

I thought they were expensive before but a 40% increase ? Crazy and unjustifiable.

Gigging mine next Friday for first time so I'll update here afterwards =

Saw a USA SUB Sterling go for £230 on eBay last night, crazy.

Yamaha are inbetween I think. Definitely Ibanez for narrow string spacing.

[quote name='Bassman Sam' timestamp='1370047979' post='2096099'] Very nice. Love a rosewood neck with white blocks. If your not going to be using the G & l, I'll store it for you, free of charge. [/quote] Thanks for the offer ! No.

Been playing it a lot this afternoon and it's still blowing me away. Absolute killer Jazz sound and the 35" scale allows the B to be just as articulated as the rest. I've never liked green basses before but this one is special. I couldn't miss out.

Tried this out in GuitarGuitar in Brum a few days ago and was blown away. I had no intention of buying it but it left such an impression on me I couldn't stop thinking about it. 4 days later here it is ! Behold the Lakland 55-60 Ltd Editon Teal Metallic: [Img]http://s17.postimg.org/r7jpjnc1r/IMAG0228.jpg" class="ipsImage" />

To give an opposite experience, Mark has let me try several basses from the top end of the price brackets I told him I had no intention of buying but just wanted to check them out.

Had a look here ? [url="http://www.bassesbyleo.com/"]http://www.bassesbyleo.com/[/url] p.s. generally 2nd hand USA L-2000s go for about 700, maybe a bit less.

How predictable !

The 5 wasn't so good for me. Tried one at a guitar show ans the body was far too light and it had dreadful neck dive. Sound was great though !

I bought a Contour 500 210 to replace an Ashdown ABM300. Not gigged it yet but even at home I can tell the difference. I'm not worried about needing an extension cab anytime soon ! My other advice would be to spend a little more and buy it from Bass Direct, you will get a better service if that matters to you. GAK are just box shifters.

This is one of the reasons I quit as an admin, can't he bothered with legal crap.

Had a reply from Yamaha. They're not out till September .

[color=#351C75]As a long term user of D'Addario strings - I was interested in trying out the new range of Balanced Tension sets. This review should allow me to compare them to their own range, and avoid any hype of a new brand.[/color] [color=#351C75]The EXL220BT (40-95) strings are well packaged in a sealed plastic bag inside your typical cardboard sleeve. As with all D'Addario strings, the ballends are colour coded for ease of identification (E = Brass, A = Red, D = Black, G = Green). This also looks rather snazzy if you have a bridge design that allows them to visible.[/color] [color=#351C75]The test bed for these strings was my 2010 G&L L-2000 Tribute Carved Top, a bass i've had for 2 years and that came with D'Addario EXL's to start with, and since they were so good - i've only ever replaced them with such (45-100). [/color] [color=#351C75]My usual choice of gauge is 45-105, however I fancied a change and went for the 40-95 set of the balanced tensions. Fitting was straight forward and all strings had plenty of length for the string post with a fair bit being snipped off. Once stretched and tuned to standard, there was a fair amount of string buzz. this was clearly due to the lower tension of the strings compared to the previous set and was easily remedied with a truss rod adjustment and retune.[/color] [color=#351C75]The bass was setup medium height which allows a little buzz when really digging in, as I dislike to low an action and buzzing on nearly every note played. Acoustically thes strings are very bright and snappy, but it's been a while since my last string change and this difference is always hard to believe when fitting a new set. How did I live that long with so little top end ?! Plugged in the difference was obviously night and day with the old strings, but no different to any other set of XLs.[/color] [color=#351C75]There's only so much one can detail about a set of strings whose sale point is that they have the same tension as each other, but these strings sound great, they have a detailed top end without being too thin at the bottom (one reason I avoid stainless steel). Regarding the balanced tension - they do what they claim to. I put the old strings onto my old Encore P bass purely to feel the differences in tension. It was clear that on the 'unbalanced' set, that differening tensions were able to be felt across the strings, where the new set felt a lot more balanced. [/color] [color=#351C75]The D'Addario website says "D'Addario EXL220BT Balanced Tension electric guitar sets are comprised of mathematically optimized string gauge combinations, resulting in greater control and playing comfort."Does this make a difference though ? That's only for the individual player to decide. String tension inequality is never a problem I feel i've encountered and thus i'm indifferent to the balanced set compared to a normal one, if the price is the same as a normal set i'd probably opt for these, but it's not a deal breaker if I can only get the 'unbalanced' set. In the timescale of the review I can't detail how long they will last, but i've had a few hours at home and a 3 hour rehearsal with them and they still sound as they were fitted... *interlude*[/color] [color=#351C75]...and a month later they're still doing the business, mucho impressed.[/color]

That BB looks so much better than the 375 with those pickups in. Perhaps just naff colour choices for the RBX3 range ? I've emailed Yamaha to try and get a release date for the TRBX as i'm impatient !

I know what I'm looking for but not what meets the criteria. I'm after a 5 string, 2 MM style humbuckers, active and if possible coil tapping/switching as per a Stingray, but also under £500. I've ruled out L2500 as too similar to what I have. Help me people !

I generally leave all switches down (towards the jack socket) and all knobs on full. Then just use the top switch as a pickup selector, everything else is a variance on those basic sounds.

[quote name='Prime_BASS' timestamp='1368041409' post='2072514'] Even if people want it they seem to not want to pay what it could go for. But when they need to sell they expect others to pay a wishful price [/quote] This is a good observation and one I've made too. I love guessing the price before reading the thread and deciding if it'll sell, usually it doesn't. Same on eBay though but people are even more clueless and optimistic than I thought possible.

Tada ! It's a Yamaha RBX5 with a different neck. If not it's bloody close.

My hunch is an early Yamaha RBX with a nodded headstock.

Poles are still there on the M series just blacked out like on a Stealth Bongo. I fancy trying one but it'd never be a match for my L series.

They are excellent. Very under rated and amazing value for money. I'd take mine over a US Fender any day.